Arkansas needed a lot more Saturday than a healthy Tyler Wilson, who mercifully didn’t take a snap beyond the pregame, then boldly called some of his teammates quitters in the postgame.

Lighten up, Tyler, and get well soon.

This isn’t the first time Alabama’s made someone roll over and play dead.

The Razorbacks needed the team they had the day before April Fool’s Day and then some to get closer than 52-0. They needed Bobby Petrino calling the plays, Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis carrying the ball, Joe Adams, Marcus Monk and Lance Alworth catching it.

Put the greatest Razorbacks of all time in their prime on the same team, assemble a veritable Who's Who of Hogs, and it still might not have been enough.

Not against this Alabama team.

Rain or shine, home or away, indoors or out, this Alabama team just may be better than the last one, which lost a game but won the national championship. This Alabama team may be better than the 2009 team, which didn’t lose a game, made Tim Tebow cry and also won the BCS title.

Through three games, this Alabama team looks like Nick Saban’s best Alabama team, and Saban himself provided the most telling supporting evidence after the game.

“I yelled more at the second team than I did at the first team,” he said. “We practice all that stuff, and they don’t go out there and do it right in the game. You’re one play from playing, and we gotta count on you. Can we count on you? If you have no other motivation in the world, your motivation should be, ‘I don’t wanna be the guy that screws up.’ “

Not when so many other guys are stepping up. Like sophomore defensive back HaHa Clinton-Dix running back an interception 46 yards to set up a touchdown. Or freshman wide receiver Amari Cooper contributing two catch-and-carries, one to score a touchdown and the other to come up a yard short.

“It does them good when they get their butt chewed out a little bit, too,” Saban said of the second-team slackers. “It helps their mental toughness, I think.”

The first team wasn’t perfect. The defense committed two 15-yard penalties on one early drive to help put Arkansas in position to tie the game with a touchdown or dent the scoreboard with a field goal. Neither happened because the redshirt freshman understudy to Wilson missed an open receiver and the kicker hit an upright, but still.

Can’t do that kind of thing against, um … when will Alabama play someone its own size, someone good enough to take advantage of its mistakes? Besides Nov. 3 in Baton Rouge.

One of those would-be critical flags was a personal foul on safety Vinnie Sunseri for hitting the quarterback late on a blitz.

“It was a stupid penalty,” Sunseri said. “We gotta be mature, and I wasn’t mature on that play. Definitely gotta make better decisions.”

That kind of recognition itself is a sign of maturity. Saban’s unhappiness with his second team is a sign that Alabama’s only real competition so far has been between the guys that play early and the guys that want to play earlier.

Saban’s only real complaint Saturday was a week old. He griped that Alabama didn’t get better from the Michigan game to the Western Kentucky game. He can’t use that line again this week.

On a soggy, slippery day, Alabama didn’t give the ball away a single time and scooped up five turnovers by Arkansas. AJ McCarron was surgically efficient, his only real mistake letting someone step on him and bruise his hand.

Even when the Crimson Tide made an error, it didn’t leave much of a mark. Nose guard Jesse Williams lined up at fullback on the goal line and ran the wrong way, and Eddie Lacy still walked into the end zone.

So little details remain to be worked out, but it’s hard to find a smudge in the big picture. Three games have produced three beatdowns, two shutouts and one common refrain.

“It’s really not about the score,” starting center and graduate Sabanologist Barrett Jones said. “It’s not about Arkansas. It’s not about Western Kentucky. It’s about us being the best we can be so when we do play our really hard games this year, we can be ready.”

Really hard games? Don’t hold your breath.

Drop a civil comment below. Write Kevin at kscarbinsky@bhamnews.com. Follow him at www.Twitter.com/KevinScarbinsky. Listen to him weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on the Smashmouth Radio Network on ESPN 973 The Zone.